Laser resurfacing of the skin has become extremely popular to reduce skin irregularities such as blemishes and acne scars and also to reduce wrinkles Laser resurfacing involves directing short, concentrated pulsating beams of light at the skins surface to be treated.
Two common types of lasers used in laser resurfacing are carbon dioxide and erbium. Both vaporize skin cells damaged at the surface level. Skin resurfacing with carbon dioxide lasers involves the use of very short pulsed light energy or continuous light beams that are delivered in a scanning pattern to remove thin layers of skin with minimal heat damage. Skin resurfacing with an erbium laser can remove surface level and moderately deep lines and wrinkles with minimal burning of surrounding tissue.
Smoke, dead skin cells, and other debris can be produced at the application site when using lasers to resurface the skin because laser resurfacing of the skin involves removing thin layers of skin and vaporizing skin cells. Removal of smoke, debris, dead skin cells etc. from the application site of the laser enables the individual performing the laser resurfacing to better see the application site and to remove contaminants from the new surface of the skin exposed from the laser resurfacing application.
Accordingly, there is a need for a smoke evacuation attachment device that can be easily attached to a laser resurfacing handpiece to enable those employing the handpiece to quickly and easily remove smoke, dead skin cells, and other debris that is formed at the application site of the laser. In addition, there is a need for a smoke evacuation attachment device of a laser handpiece that has a very low profile thereby enabling the individual employing the handpiece to efficiently and effectively utilize the handpiece without any additional encumbrance.